Volume 8,
Issue 2,
2009

Throughout history children have been taught by means of stories told by their parents, and for many centuries this was the primary method of transferring knowledge and information. As time progressed, we spent less and less time listening to stories, although to this day storytelling is still being used as an education methodology. People of our modern century are accustomed to receiving information in an audio format. It is natural for us to absorb information through an auditory medium, and since such information transfer takes place on such a personal level, we tend to form a personal relationship with radio presenters. They become like family members who visit every time one turns on the radio. Podcasting has grown over the past year and is seen as a major leap forward in mobile learning, or as we like to call it, "learning-on-the-go". The learner is able to download lectures or information to his or her iPod or any other MP3 player, and no matter where he is or what he is doing, he will be able to gain knowledge. Whether the learner is working out at the gym or driving a car, the lecturer is always there with him, allowing the learner to constantly absorb information as it is presented in an amazingly personal way. When lectures are presented in this way, it of course remains the learner's responsibility to absorb the information made available to him. The whole idea of self-regulated learning comes to the fore and learners actually take responsibility for what they learn and the pace at which they learn. Lecturers are advised to record their lectures and make them available online as an essential tool in the education process. Language lecturers in particular should use pod casting as the main feature of their courses. Providing learners with a podcast of information on the next face-to-face lecture and having them prepare according to what they have been told in the podcast will truly enhance learning in the lecture room and stimulate discussion. The main aim of all lecturers should be to have their learners prepare to such a degree that all face-to-face sessions become discussion sessions. The iPod and podcasting have changed the face of open higher distance education as we know it. All we need to do is jump aboard and make the most of the amazing opportunities this paradigm shift is offering.

South Africa is constantly loosing contracts for the manufacturing of innovative projects to the East, due to its non-competitive mould-making industry. The paper will report on progress made in a specific focus area in mould-making, namely Hybrid Moulds for injection moulding. Hybrid Moulds refers to a hybrid between Additive Fabrication and conventional methods through the use of amongst others, Direct Metal Laser Sintering techniques, combined with conventional CNC machining (High Speed) techniques. Although the emphasis is on an economically viable process for limited production runs, once the moulds have been developed, it normally is pushed to its limits to realize production quantities. One of the competitive edges is the cutting of lead-times, which obviously impacts on production costs. Another aspect is the ability to manufacture short runs of injection moulded parts in the required engineering material Realising that Laser Sintering of metals is an expensive manufacturing process, a concurrent manufacturing process was developed. Intricate mould details, which normally are time-consuming to manufacture through EDM processes, were grown as inserts, while the less-complex parts of the mould is machined in Aluminium through 3 and 5 Axis High Speed CNC Machining. Using a 3-axis CNC wire cutter, pockets will be created where the more complex Laser Sintered Metal inserts will be fitted. One of the competitive edges is the cutting of lead-times, which obviously impacts on production costs. Another aspect is the ability to manufacture short runs of injection moulded parts in the required engineering material.

The paper presents a critique of passive and active thermal comfort strategies. Extensive review of literature on passive thermal comfort energy efficiency interventions and their benefits was under taken. The paper explains the correlation between climatic comfort and energy efficiency. The applicability of the energy management process in ensuring energy efficiency is presented. Passive thermal comfort energy efficiency interventions have been seen to provide thermal comfort as well as energy efficiency. Their major shortcoming is their disability to work in all kinds of weather, heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. There is need to optimize passive thermal comfort energy efficiency interventions so that they provide heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.

First-year university students make judgements about their capabilities in mathematics which mainly stem from their past school experiences. It is against this background that the researchers decided to conduct a study with the aim of assessing the academic behavioural confidence of first-year students enrolled in the B.Ed. (FET): Natural Sciences programme and the B.Ed. (FET): Economic and Management Sciences programme offered by the School of Teacher Education at the Central University of Technology, Free State. Bandura's (1986) Social Cognitive Theory is the overarching theoretical framework of the self-efficacy construct and therefore also for this study. A quantitative approach was followed and the Academic Behavioural Confidence scale (ABC) designed by Sander and Sanders (2006), was adopted for use in the study. The study sought to first of all determine whether a significant difference in the academic behavioural confidence of the first-year students within the Natural Sciences and Economic and Management Sciences programmes does exist. It furthermore wanted to determine if a significant difference in the academic behavioural confidence between male and female students within these two programmes exists. The results indicated that there is a significant difference in the academic behavioural confidence of the NS and EMS groups. There is, however, no significant difference between male and female students within and between the two groups. Based on the findings some recommendations on dealing with first-year students have been made.

The learners going through outcomes-based education (OBE) were expected to acquire skills which would help them to become critical thinkers, good workers and good citizens. However, this is not happening for learners in the Free State Goldfields' township schools, due to the unsuccessful implementation of OBE in these schools. The purpose of this study is to investigate why OBE is failing in the Free State Goldfields' township schools. In order to determine these reasons, a questionnaire was developed and administered on 183 educators from township primary schools in the Free State Goldfields. Focus group interviews were also conducted to confirm information collected through the questionnaire. Data collected was qualitatively analysed. It was found that the inadequate professional training received by educators, the poor home backgrounds of learners, illiteracy of parents, and a lack of adequate resources and facilities were the main reasons why the implementation of OBE was not succeeding in these schools. The re-training of the township school educators, the involvement of parents and the provision of resources may help to implement OBE more effectively in these schools.

The pass rate of grade 12 learners is shockingly low and this is supposed to be the feeding ground for Higher Educations in South Africa. Alet Rademeyer quotes from a document of Advocate Paul Hoffman, SC, and director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, that the South African School System only delivers one out of 29 functional literate Black matriculants. It is a national crisis and is an indication of gigantic proportions. The aim of the Academic Literacy Programme (ALP) at the CUT is to improve student's academic literacy skills which will ultimately boost the student throughput rate at the CUT. The programme will help students develop their academic language skills whilst creating a positive attitude towards the English language.

This paper intends to argue that there are two inherent challenges and dilemmas that may incapacitate rising calls to develop a distinguished cohort of researchers at universities, including CUT. Firstly, it seems the episteme knowledge-base in research of the current cohort of staff members does invite a look in askance as to its depth and breadth. Do we sufficiently exude competence to develop budding researchers of note? Secondly, and deducing from my informal interviews and discussions with B.Ed Honours students since 2006; we somewhat fall short as lecturers to model the quintessential research expertise necessary to develop the students' phronetic research experiences - the success of which would reconcile with their practical reality in their diverse teaching and learning situations and circumstances.

How then do we build a research capacity that catapults us from this somewhat research doldrums in the School of Teacher Education at CUT to become a School of Teacher Education recognised nationally and internationally as a School of Teacher Education which is enveloped in the validity and reliability of generating quality research?
This paper explores various "givens' and "intellectual needs." And, quite academically, may rumble about conceptual and perceptual impediments and hurdles which under-gird the laborious exercise of undertaking research; though fulfilling to academic autarkical pride when done excellently.

RP and recently RM have been key factors in the development of the manufacturing industry in assisting in the development of new products. Fortunately, the application of these technologies has been realised in the medical industry. Surgeons all over the world use physical models created from CT or MRI data using some sort of additive manufacturing. The fabrication of these models has exploded into a popular research area combining engineering, material and medical expertise. Long-term growth in the additive fabrication industry will come from designs that are difficult, time-consuming, costly, or impossible to produce using standard techniques. Growth will occur with advances in current additive processes which are coupled with breakthroughs in new materials. The applications of RP and RM are as diverse as the medical issues that arise. RM of custom design medical prostheses proves to be economically viable solution, not only because it is faster to produce but it gives the designer freedom of creation too. The paper discusses some interesting medical case studies.

The central regions of South Africa experienced an abnormally high precipitation during the first quarter of 2009, thus resulting in an unusually high probability of veld fires due to the excessive amounts of fuel / grass available. In South Africa the process of land redistribution was recently drastically accelerated. This implies that many newly settled black farmers are fanning but still need to be trained in various aspects of farm management. Unfortunately, in most cases this training did not include environmental management, which among others, implies managing and preparing for veld fires. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry also does not have sufficient funding to cover all these aspects and a regional collaborative plan must therefore be developed. In addition to this, in an attempt to alleviate poverty, many other previously disadvantaged people in South Africa must be assisted in establishing small business enterprises. This paper will highlight a process to be followed to train and coordinate all farmers and simultaneously establish business opportunities that will remove some of the fuel (grasses and shrubs) in order to reduce the risk and intensity of winter and spring veld fires.

A stream flow at an outlet of a catchment can be entirely a base flow or direct flow or a combination of both. The base flow component of a stream is mainly contributed from the ground water storage which often is an open aquifer whereas the direct flow component is mainly the result of a direct response of a rainfall event. The Upper Modder river basin catchment is considered to be the origin of the Modder River which supplies water to Rustfontein Dam, situated at the outlet of the C52A with an area of 928 km2. Nine years of daily stream flow showed a continuous none zero discharge throughout the year. During the rainy season the discharge of the stream increases significantly. Thus, it is necessary to separate the direct and base flow of the stream in order to understand the important component that is more likely to be affected by different land use changes in a catchment.

The Modder river daily mean flow at the inlet of Rustfontein dam (in Central South Africa) was analysed using four base flow separation methods, the Nathan & McMahon (N&M), the Chapman, Smakhtin & Watkins (S&W) method and the frequency duration analysis. All the methods gave higher percentage of the low flow component, except for the S&W method which underestimated it. The N&M filtering equation gave base flow components greater than 66% in 1999 and increased to 84% in 2007 while the Chapman equation revealed 65% and 74% in 1999 and 2007, respectively. Similarly, the frequency duration analysis gave 62% in 1999 and increased to 79% in 2007. The frequency duration analysis gave up to 13% lower percentage than the N&M (1990) filtering equation. The nine year base flow averages are 69%, 69% and 75% for frequency duration analysis, Chapman (1999) and N&M (1990) filtering equations, respectively. The result revealed that the Modder River is largely supplied by the ground water discharge. The result seemed to concur with the fact that for a semi-arid catchment such as the Modder river basin, with an average annual runoff coefficient of approximately 6%, the contribution of annual rainfall to direct runoff is very minimal.